A corruption inquiry has heard former New South Wales Labor minister Eddie Obeid should not have been given a massive water allocation for his farm because there was no proof he needed it.

Former Department of Water and Energy licensing officer Sue Heaney has told the Independent Commission Against Corruption she was suspended in November 2008 after almost 11 years in her job.

She accepted redundancy in mid 2009 and now works as a remedial massage therapist.

Based in Newcastle, her work with the department involved assigning volume limits on water licences in the Hunter region.

Ms Heaney told the inquiry she had believed her suspension was related to bullying and harassment by managers, but now thinks the treatment she received was over a water licence request by the Obeids.

The inquiry has heard the even before the Obeids completed the purchase of their farm Cherrydale Park in the Bylong Valley, Mr Obeid was lobbying for an increase in water allocations.

Ms Heaney said she wanted to do a site inspection because she was not provided with enough information about how water had historically been used on the farm.

"Something wasn't right," she said.

The witness said she was concerned when she found out another senior officer, Brian McDougall, set a new limit of 860 megalitres of water a year on the farm without a site inspection.

The inquiry has heard the limit was almost six times higher than the average allocation for the area of 150 megalitres.

On Thursday Damian Obeid denied reporting Ms Heaney to anyone in her department after she hung up on him during a heated phone conversation, but conceded he might have "mentioned her" to his father and brothers.

Phone records show Eddie Obeid spoke to Ms Heaney's boss Mark Duffy about her days after her conversation with Damian Obeid.

The ICAC is investigating allegations Eddie Obeid misused his influence as an MP to lobby for the water licence, for cafe leases and health services contracts without disclosing his financial interest in them.

He is due to give evidence next Thursday.

Another former Labor minister, Joe Tripodi, is also facing corruption allegations along with two former senior public servants.

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